GHS 14, Suwannee 13

Janet Schrader, Democrat Reporter

Dec 21, 2005

The score says it all. Suwannee lost to GHS by one point. That one point was a point-after kick blocked in the fourth quarter by the Purple Hurricane defense. If that PA had not been blocked, the game could have gone into overtime and who knows what would have happened.

It was a defensive battle from the beginning. Suwannee's newly returned quarterback Rheed Baldwin, fought hard and did a great job mounting impressive stats and yardage behind his passing. Baldwin was 17 for 27 with one interception and 177 total passing yards. Suwannee's stats were better than Gainesville's, but the final score was what mattered.

The Gainesville defense was tough just like the Suwannee defense. Suwannee essentially missed two tackles and gave up two touchdowns as a result. The GHS defense came into the game with some hard numbers. They'd given up only two touchdowns in three games.

Head Football Coach Jay Walls has made changes in the way captains are chosen and presented for each game. Instead of having permanent captains, there will be new captains for each game based on merit. This week's captains were #59 Michael Wright, #20 Rashard Fleming, #45 Matt Yanossy and #33 Nick Beck. Suwannee lost the toss and had to receive to start the game.

Suwannee got off to a bad start. Baldwin completed a pass to Patrick Cherry on the first play, but fumbled the ball on the second. Gainesville recovered and had the ball on the Dog 35-yard line.

But Suwannee dodged the bullet due to some tough play by the Bulldog defense. Shaun Brewer in the game on defense, sacked the GHS quarterback after the had made a first down and advanced to the Dog 15. Suwannee held and GHS elected to try for a field goal. The kick was no good and Suwannee had the ball.

Baldwin to Cherry on the first play was good for a first down. After Billy Moran gained short yards running, Baldwin threw to Bruce Johnson for a first down on the Dog 46. Suwannee was on the move. Ranard Fleming got five yards for the Dogs and Cherry made another big catch for a first down on the Hurricane 15. With 5:16 left in the first period, Moran ran the ball in for Suwannee's first TD. The point-after kick was good and the score was 7-0.

Neither team scored in the second period and the Dogs went into the field house at the half up 7-0.

But the Purple Hurricanes made a big play in the third period, scoring to tie the game at 7-7 with 11:03 left in the third quarter.

The final quarter started with the score still tied at 7. But a Baldwin to Cherry pass moved the Dogs to the Hurricane 15. Rashard Fleming in at running back got a first down on the four-yard line. Moran got two yards to put the Dogs on the two and Rashard Fleming ran it in for the six points. The trouble was, six was all the Dogs collected. The point after kick was blocked and the score went to 13-7.

GHS fought back and on another broken play scored with 7:15 left to play in the game. The score went to 13-14.

The Dogs fought hard but could not score in the remaining time. The final score was a disappointing loss for Suwannee 13-14.

The Offensive Player of the Game was an offensive lineman. Several were considered but #63 Justin Hancock received the award.

The Defensive Player of the Game was #45 Matt Yanossy. Yanossy was all over the field and put in a good performance helping fill in for missing defensive monster Delwyn Allen.

Next week is an important one for teams all over the state. It's district play next week as Suwannee travels to Quincy to play East Gadsden in the first district game of the season. Oct. 1 at 7:30 in Quincy at the new East Gadsden High School. Look for directions to the stadium in the Wednesday edition of your Suwannee Democrat. Go Dogs!

Images

Videos

Commented

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.